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Capital and most populous city of Georgia, U.S.
Photo: AtlChampion, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Atlanta is the vanguard of the New South, with the charm and elegance of the Old. It's a city that balances southern traditions with sleek modernism, and southern hospitality with three skylines and the world’s busiest airport. It's a city that has been burnt to the ground and built back up; seen the horrors of war; felt the pain of droughts and floods; and given birth to Martin Luther King, Jr., the greatest figure of the civil rights movement. Atlanta is the capital of the state of Georgia.
The most central and commercial area in Georgia (economically and politically), downtown Atlanta includes the state capitol, city hall, Georgia Aquarium and the World of Coca-Cola.
Just north of Downtown, this is a major business and residential district with tall skyscrapers and a popular nightlife area. This district also includes Piedmont Park, the Woodruff Arts Center, Atlantic Station, and the Georgia Tech campus.
Several miles north of Midtown, Buckhead is a popular business and nightlife district and is home to the Atlanta History Center.
East Atlanta includes many popular neighborhoods with beautiful homes, highly-rated restaurants and thriving shopping districts. Neighborhoods include alternative-style Little Five Points, trendy Virginia-Highland (along with adjoining Poncey-Highland), and the growing community of East Atlanta Village.
Home of the busiest airport in the world, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. South Atlanta also contains the neighborhoods of Mechanicsville, Peoplestown, and Lakewood.
This district includes Vine City, Bankhead, Historic West End, Collier Heights, and the Upper Westside neighborhoods.
The City of Decatur is only a few miles from downtown Atlanta, but has held on to its residential small-town charm. One of the most pedestrian-friendly areas in Atlanta, Decatur is home to many excellent restaurants, bars, and boutique shops.
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Public park at Centennial Yards in downtown.
The Atlanta Braves' regular baseball season takes place April through September at Truist Park, a stadium to the north of Atlanta just across the Cobb County line off the intersection of I-75 and I-285. In South Atlanta is the site of the former Fulton County Stadium, with a preserved section of wall where Hank Aaron hit his historic 715th home run. The Fulton County Stadium site and the adjacent Turner Field (where the Braves played from 1997 to 2016) have since been purchased by Georgia State University (see below for more details on the school's plans for the site). Also of note is that the Braves have their top minor-league team in the metropolitan area—the Gwinnett Stripers play at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville.
The 1998 and 2016 NFC Champions gear up each September to kick off the official football season in Downtown. The Falcons moved into Mercedes-Benz Stadium, then the league's newest venue, in 2017. Mercedes-Benz Stadium hosts most of the events that its predecessor, the Georgia Dome, had hosted, most notably the Southeastern Conference football championship game and the Peach Bowl (one of the six bowl games associated with the College Football Playoff). It has since hosted other events, such as Super Bowl LIII in 2019, and will host eight FIFA World Cup matches in 2026.
The Atlanta Hawks have played at this location since 1972, when it was known as the Omni Coliseum. The Coliseum was demolished and rebuilt in 1997, which is the current structure of State Farm Arena. You can expect to find the Hawks playing here for their 41 home games of the regular basketball season.
Atlanta's soccer team started play in 2017, and promptly broke multiple records for attendance at Major League Soccer games, going on to win the MLS championship in its second season in 2018, and The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and The Campeones Cup in 2019. Sharing ownership with the Falcons, Atlanta United moved into Mercedes-Benz Stadium at its opening in late August 2017. United launched a reserve side, Atlanta United 2, in 2018 in the second-tier league now known as the USL Championship; it switched to the third-level MLS Next Pro, a league made up almost exclusively of MLS reserve sides, in 2023. United 2 played its first season in the Gwinnett Stripers' ballpark in Lawrenceville, but has since moved to Kennesaw State's Fifth Third Bank Stadium.
The city's most famous university features a popular and highly competitive sports program that competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference. All of the major venues, the best-known of which are Bobby Dodd Stadium for football, McCamish Pavilion for basketball, and Russ Chandler Stadium for baseball, are on the Tech campus in Midtown.
A family-friendly attraction.
Allows people to experience merry olde England during the days of King Arthur.
Is held during the third week in July and is the world's largest cultural celebration of African-American art.
A massive science-fiction and fantasy convention, although it's grown to be so multi-media and multi-genre that almost anyone can find a topic of interest here. Celebrity actors and writers come from around the world for Q&A panels. Unlike other large conventions, Dragon Con is fan-run, and there are well over a thousand panels where fans share insightful commentary and even learn about history, podcasting, or digital security. The convention is spread across 5 hotels and a trade center downtown. (Hotel rooms sell out almost a year in advance, as soon as they're made available, but you don't need to stay at a convention hotel to attend.)
Atlanta's biggest parade is a sight to see for any geek, whether you're on the lookout for pirates, wizards, superheroes, or Storm Troopers. Over 3,000 fans parade in costumes, as well as show off elaborately recreated vehicles like the Ghostbusters' ECTO-1, the DeLorean time machine from Back to the Future, and the Batmobile, plus unique creations like huge animated dragons and starships. Great for children (especially if they want to wear a costume too), although younglings might be scared by realistic-looking Klingons or zombies. Expect large crowds, which begin gathering before 8am.
Three-day celebration of LGBTQIA+ people inclusive to anyone regardless of sexuality or gender identity. One of the largest such events in the country.
Promotes photography exhibitions and events citywide every October.
By train
Atlanta is served by Amtrak, +1-800-872-7245. Amtrak's Crescent train runs daily and serves New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Charlotte, Gainesville, Birmingham and New Orleans.
By bus
By car
The principal highways serving the city are I-75 (serving traffic from Detroit to Florida), I-85 (connecting the Mid-Atlantic to New Orleans) and I-20 (connecting Texas to Florence, South Carolina),…
By foot
Visitors will find today's Atlanta very walkable, with many improvements made in the last decade.
By transit
Atlanta is served by MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority), +1 404-848-4711, which operates subway and bus networks in the city of Atlanta and the counties of Fulton and Dekalb.
By taxi
It is usually possible to flag taxicabs down near tourist attractions and bars in Midtown and Downtown. However, calling ahead is recommended.
By car
Cars are the most popular form of transport to get around the sprawling city, and usually the fastest during non-peak hours. Many destinations outside the urban centers are only accessible by car.
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